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Reviews
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
Star Wars Fans Are The Worst
As a lifelong fan of the franchise, it hurts to see how divided it's fans have become. I would like to start off by saying this is not a perfect movie, not even close. Upon my first viewing I loved it, but after repeated viewings the hype began to fade and I saw this movie for what it really is, a Star Trek episode. Not a bad Star Trek episode but not a great episode either. The inclusion of "real-world" problems like fuel is what hurt the prequel triology (politics and midiclorians) and this film. The movie boils down to a slow car chase that doesn't do much to move the story arc along but give us a buffer between Force Awakens and Episode 9.
In an attempt to not solely hark on the negatives, this film did have decent acting from Domhnall Gleeson (Hux), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), and John Boyega (Finn). Oscar Isaacs many others in the film do a fine job of portraying their characters. The development of Luke Skywalker in this film was a bit dissapointing. Skywalkers story felt like it kind of betrayed its source material but I don't know how else someone would react to the fall of the new generation of Jedi. Though seeing the return of Luke as a Jedi Master fighting against Kylo was a good payout.
One thing above all was something that made this movie enjoyable, the visuals. This film is one of the prettiest Star Wars films I have ever seen. The cinematography and use of practical effects makes the hurt of poor writing lessen.
My biggest complaint about this film is the writing, character development (lack there of), or the future of the franchise. My main complaint is that this film causes more questions and division than any film prior. I'm not wishing all of the questions made in Force Awakens be answered, but maybe at least one. For every one question answered in this film, ten more arose.
This all being said, nothing the Disney/Lucas Films produces will ever live up the expections that most fans have for the franchise. Star Wars fans have these warped ideas of what they think the franchise should look like based on their fan fictions and the extended universe books, comics, etc. With the expection of the horrific holiday special and all of the Ewok TV movies, Star Wars fans must understand that some Star Wars is better than no Star Wars. With the boycott and remake plans being thrown around, movies that fans want like Boba Fett and Obi-Wan are being put on hold. We need to appreciate what we have rather than over analyze and complain about everything that is put out. The movies don't NEED to be made and if we continue this state of whining, they will cease to exist and we will no longer have anything to complain about because the fans killed the franchise.
Making Fun: The Story of Funko (2018)
Great Company Story, Horrible Story Delivery
Funko is an intriguing company with an even more inspiring story. The documentary does not do the story of the company justice. There was no real narrative to the story telling. The transitions from point A to point B were very abrupt and confusing. I spent a lot of time during my viewing trying to understand what was going on because what we had just seen has nothing to do with the following scene. I would love to see a better documentary for this companies story. It felt like someone watched a YouTube video on how to make a documentary, watched half of the video, and said, "I can do that." Fun story, poor execution.